


I Want It!: Diodeshipping

by Arcanaacid



Series: I Want It [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fluffy, M/M, Newlywed Game inspired, Silly, diodeshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 20:21:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20981795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcanaacid/pseuds/Arcanaacid
Summary: It's been a while! This is the first one-shot in an ongoing series based on the starter "I want it." Ash finds something he has to have, and wrangles Clemont into helping him! After bumping into some old friends and playing a game show, Clemont's left wondering what he'd got himself into.





	I Want It!: Diodeshipping

**Author's Note:**

> It's silly, I'm aware. Let me know if you'd like to see more of these! Come find me @Arcanaacid or @Trainerarcana on Tumblr, too.

“I want it!” Ash’s shout nearly deafened Clemont as he tried to read the poster next to him. The poster featured a contest of pairs, where they would have to answer questions about each other. While normally a contest not involving Pokémon wouldn’t interest the Ash, the prize was an all you can eat pass to his favorite restaurant in Laverre City. 

“I don’t know, Ash…” the blonde started slowly. This sure seemed like a _ couple-y _ thing. 

“But Clemont, look! That’s super expensive usually, and I’ll bring you with me,” his bright smile melted the inventor’s heart, but not quite enough.

“Do you really think we could even win this?” He nibbled his lip, looking over the bright poster. The smiling couple mocked him silently, gazing lovingly in front of _ fireworks _, for some reason. 

Turning, he faced his painfully platonic friend again, taking in the raven haired young man’s defeated expression. 

“But, Clem…You’re my best friend,” He sighed, his stomach twisting in knots. 

“Alright, I’ll do it.” Clemont’s arms were suddenly full of excitable nineteen year old, Pikachu having long since bailed in favor of the ground. The yellow mouse looked at the poster, nose scrunched. He understood the Pokémon’s feelings. 

“It says it starts soon, let’s go check sign ups!” With that, Ash released Clemont and spun around, sprinting off towards a small public square. Tents for the evening’s market were set up, the contest under a large canopy. 

Huffing, Clemont bent to catch his breath as Ash animatedly begged the worker to let them enter. After a few minutes he was able to stand and join him, now laughing with the green haired woman.

“No worries, oh, is this him? You guys are in luck, we have one spot left! Sign this, and then go take a seat. You’ll be on the red side,” she handed Ash a red ticket, “and you’ll be on the blue side. Have fun!” Their entry fee was shoved in a money box and they headed off to their seats, tickets in hand. 

Clemont took the seat with the number twelve, matching the blue stub in his hand. The seats were simple, set up in a half circle with several other pairs, one was particularly familiar.

“Serena?” Clemont winced as he spoke, interrupting her hushed conversation with a blue haired young woman. 

“Clemont? Oh, Ash! Hi guys,” she smiled, waving from her seat.

“Hey Serena! Wait, Dawn?” Ash glanced at his ticket and then the seat, “Er, you’re in my seat I think. What are you guys doing here?” Dawn laughed and hopped up to embrace Ash briefly. 

“Sorry, I’ll move! I think I’m sitting next to your man, there,” She winked at Clemont. He felt heat rush to his face, not able to see that Ash had a matching blush. 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Ash hissed, just out of range. He got a giggle in response, shaking his head at his friend. 

“I met Serena here a few months ago,” her smile grew warm, adoration shining in her eyes. “Anyway, we’ve been dating for a little while now and the opportunity to come to Kalos came up!” 

“It’s been so nice being back. I didn’t expect to see you here though,” Serena opened her mouth to continue, only to be hushed as they urged everyone to find a seat. Dawn took hers next to Clemont, and the game began. 

“Hello everyone! Thank you so much for joining us today, welcome! In your seat, you’ll find a whiteboard and pen. We will be asking one side a question, and the other will have to guess.” The host was energetic, his microphone causing an echo. His bright red hair and neon clothes just added the headache.

“He kinda hurts my eyes,” Dawn whispered, making the man on her other side snort. Clemont smiled, shaking his head. He agreed, though, the man clearly was too into this.

“So the red side will be starting! We will ask you the question, you have two minutes to write down an answer. Do not show anyone your answer! When the blue side guesses, you’ll reveal if they’re right or wrong. The couple with the most right answers, wins!” 

Ash nodded along as he spoke, it all seemed simple enough. Alright, time for the first question!

“Now, what is your favorite home-cooked meal? You have two minutes starting...now!” Ash wrote down his answer immediately. As he watched the blonde scrutinize him from a few feet away, he realized he didn’t know what Clemont would guess. Uh oh…

“Alright, we will start by number. Blue number one, what is red number one’s favorite home-cooked meal?” The contestants answered one by one. Most were wrong by being too specific or too vague, answers like “soup”, “sixteen spice Unovan chili with poached eggs”, and “peanut butter sandwiches” came up. 

“Blue number eleven, what is red number eleven’s favorite home-cooked meal?” Dawn states at Serena hard, as if attempting to read her mind. Ash snorted, getting an elbow from the brunette. 

“Her favorite is...miso soup, from scratch.” She ended confidently, grinning as Serena turned her board around. In neat script read “from scratch miso soup”, making the host laugh. 

“Why miso soup? Isn’t that simple?” He had teased a few of the couples lightly, but it did seem odd. 

“Ah, well, I grew up in Kanto when I was young. It reminds me of then, of happy memories,” She blushes faintly. Ash would have teased her more if it wasn’t his turn next. The host repeated the question and his heart pounded. Why was this so nerve wracking? He’d done way harder things!

“His favorite is deep dish chili dog pizza pot pie,” Clemont huffed out, clearly suppressing laughter. Giggles radiated out from him, other couples grinning. Ash turned his board around, grinning. He knew! He actually knew his favorite food, Mama’s original recipe! His limbs tingled, like when Pikachu zapped him playfully. 

“Alright! Onto the next question: Blue number one, what is your favorite thing to do in nature?” Oh, this would be hard. Clemont liked...Clemont liked...Ash thought hard. What did the inventor like to do, besides reach their destination? Oh!

Unsure of his answer, he mulled it over until their turn, not hearing Serena’s. The host looked at him expectantly, his time was up. 

“Uh, his favorite thing outside is watching the Fletchinder come back to nest?” He cringed, waiting for whatever it said to embarrass him. How could Clemont know something so close to his heart, but he couldn’t even—oh. 

An adorable pink tinge to his cheeks, blue eyes bright, he watched Ash read it. He was right! Success, Ash was glad his brain stowed that strange information. He watched Clemont’s face scrunch in concentration. He was so cute...uh oh. He was being looked at—_ Ah! _ It was his turn!

“Serena, what was the question?” He whispered. She stared at him, looking torn between ignoring him to write her answer and helping. 

“Favorite Pokémon type!” She hissed, scribbling hers down. Oh, that’s easy. 

Clemont was stuck. A favorite Pokémon type? Ash? _ One favorite? _ Those words didn’t belong in the same sentence at all. Alright, he has a Pikachu, but doesn’t seem to favor electric types necessarily. Water, well he had a lot of them, but…

Thinking hard, he tried imagining Ash as a gym leader. A monotype gym leader in Kanto...The image of an older Ash, Venusaur by his side, Leavanny, Rowlet, and possibly a Leafeon. 

A blonde woman in red seat 3 dumped her drink on her partner’s head and stormed out. The guy was swearing and demanding a towel before storming off as well. 

“Wow, competitive,” Clemont murmured. Dawn nodded, wincing as the brightly dressed man yelled into the mic, making it screech. 

“Alright, Blue number eleven, you’re up. Please, no food throwing!” He gestured nervously to Serena’s bucket of popcorn. 

Dawn quirked an eyebrow, leaning forwards, “Her favorite Pokémon type is Fighting!” She gripped her seat hard as Serena turned her board around slowly, a fist symbol drawn next to the word. 

“Wow! Another win for Eleven, these girls are in sync! Tell me, why Fighting?” Serena blushed, twiddling her thumbs.

“Ah, well I have a Pancham has a Performing partner. I’ve added a few fighting types over the last two years, they’re rarely thought of as being beautiful or entertaining but they really are!” Ash giggled at her starry-eyed expression, fist in the air. 

“Ah, sorry! I got excited,” she chuckled nervously before sending a pleading look to Ash. 

“Ah, yeah, your turn, Clem.” That got the host’s attention to move on from the bashful performer. 

“Oh! Right. Ash’s favorite Pokémon type is Grass!” Later, if asked, his voice absolutely did not crack and her definitely did not yell. 

The raven haired young man raised his eyebrows, feet kicked out from his chair. His face split into a grin as he spun it around. In squiggly letters it read “GRASS”, making Clemont snort. Was that supposed to be grass like?

The host joked his way down the line, asking basic questions like “favorite ice cream flavor”, “favorite movie”, and “first Pokémon”. No more utter meltdowns were had, however the crowd in the tent had thinned to nearly nothing. 

“Well, folks, it’s all tied up! So we’ll ask one more to both Blue seat eleven and Blue seat twelve!” He ignored the groans of other contestants, several leaving immediately. 

“Now, Red seat eleven, what is her favorite holiday? I’ll give you two minutes,” he nodded to Dawn, who was already writing. Serena scrunched her nose, debating mentally. 

Ash was scrambling as he waited, Clemont’s favorite holiday? Were there holidays in Kalos that he didn’t know about? Oh no, oh Arceus, they were going to _ lose _ . And he was going to _ embarrass _ himself in front of Clemont. This was a terrible, awful, no good, very bad idea. 

“Alright, time’s up.” 

Serena took a breath, “Dawn’s favorite holiday is Valentine’s Day?” The confidence she had before was gone. Dawn turned her board around, giving a sad smile. 

“It looks like they finally missed one! The correct answer was Christmas, everyone!” Dawn frowned.

“Who are you even announcing to anymore?” She asked. The vibrant man blinked and looked around the otherwise empty tent. 

“Oh...uh, sorry. We can just move on I guess. You guys, next.” 

Clemont rolled his eyes, writing his answer on the board. He wasn’t sure what to put in the first place, what would Ash even try to guess? Hmm...Tentatively he scrawled “New Years”, that would do.

“And time is up. Your guess?” 

Ash rubbed his nose, “His favorite holiday is New Years?” He grimaced, prepared for failure. He took in the inventor’s surprise as he revealed his answer. Hey, they won! Wait, they won! He was right! 

Laughing, Ash darted from his seat and ran to hug him, knocking him out of his chair in the process. 

“A-ash! Woah, hang on!” Ash held on for a while, enjoying the blonde’s presence in his arms. For a few moments, he imagined snuggling into his arms in a comfy bed. Maybe they could have a movie night, with lots of blankets. A cleared throat interrupted his imaginary scenario.

“Well congratulations! Here’s your passes for the restaurant, we hope you enjoy!” Ash stood and helped Clemont up. Dawn and Serena said quick goodbyes, promising to keep in touch. 

“Thanks! It was fun,” Ash grabbed the tickets eagerly. 

“Thank you two for playing! It was nice to see such a cute couple win,” the guy patted Ash’s shoulder. He felt his face heat up unbearably. 

Clemont stuttered behind him, “o-oh no! We aren’t a couple, no, no!” 

“You two knew all that about each other and aren’t a couple.” The man deadpanned. Ash nodded mutely. He snorted and shook his head. 

“Yeah, and those girls were just _ gal pals _. Anyways, have a nice night,” They stared as he sauntered off. Clemont was his best friend, that’s all. He was smart, and funny, and adorable, oh! And he did this thing when he was frustrated—huh. Wait. 

“Hey, uh, Clemont?” Ash cleared his throat. The blonde looked at him, adjusting his glasses nervously. His cheeks were still pale pink, contrasting against his blue jumpsuit. 

“Yeah, Ash?” 

“Do you, uh, want to get dinner with me?” His palms were sweaty and his face was hot, was this a heart attack?

“Wasn’t that the plan?” Clemont tilted his head, puzzled. Ash wasn’t a nervous person usually, something was clearly off. 

“No. Well, yeah, but I don’t want to do that anymore. Wait, I mean I _ do _ but not—argh!” Ash spun into his heel, taking a moment to breathe. Clemont let him, more confused than before. 

The tent air felt stale, the bustling from outside muted white noise. Ash turned around finally, facing his friend. 

“Would you like to go out to dinner with me? Just me and you, we don’t even have to go here,” he waved the tickets. “Maybe we could get dessert or a movie after?” Ash doubted this was any clearer until Clemont began to blush again. 

“W-wait, are you asking me on a date?” Ash couldn’t help giggling. He sounded like Dedenne, squeaky and panicked.

“Yeah, I am.” That was more confident. Clemont’s fingers slid over his, a matching smile on his face. His heart was still pounding in his chest. 

“I would like that.” 

With a light heart, Ash grabbed Clemont’s hand and hauled him off. Forget everything he said before, this was the best idea.


End file.
